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Tightening seen in the CBD while overall market fundamentals hold flat
Overall Availability in Boston is holding fairly flat increasing 10 basis points year-over-year to 13.1%, yet is still down 300 basis points compared to two years ago. The CBD, however, saw continued tightening with availability decreasing by 60 basis points year-over-year to 8.1% - a 390-basis-point decline in two years' time. Availabilities range from 5.1% in the Back Bay submarket to 28.3% along the Route 495/Mass Pike West submarket, with a wider gap for class A space. Class A availability rates are below 10.0% – a rough benchmark for a balanced market – in Cambridge and Boston-proper, while some suburban markets are battling class A availabilities above 25.0%. Just two properties delivered in the first quarter, brining 250,000 sf of new inventory to market, of which approximately 60.0% has already been pre-leased.